


Of D&D and the Fall of GoT

by FieryMatter



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieryMatter/pseuds/FieryMatter
Summary: A retelling of J.R.R. Tolkien's Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, based on one of the most disappointing endings to an otherwise great show in TV history
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Of D&D and the Fall of GoT

In the spring of the year 2011 was born in HBO channel Game of Thrones (GoT), the project of ‘D&D’; and that was ten years and four since the writing of ‘A Game of Thrones’ by George R.R.Martin. Of surpassing quality was GoT, for ethereal music was written by Ramin Djawadi as the music of heaven, and it had the beauty and the wisdom of good actors and the character development and narrative cohesion of good stories of old; and the source material spoke ever in its ear and heart, even as with Peter Jackson’s LoTR movies (its predecessor).

Now on a time, when GoT was yet young, D&D were lost. For they, as has been told, loved pitching and pilot’ing after studios above all other craft. But often D&D went with few of their folk beyond the leaguer of the studios, and that HBO knew not that their bidding was defied; and thus it came to pass, as fate willed, that D&D were headhunted by Disney, and brought to Kathleen Kennedy. D&D were no weakling or craven, but the salaries wherewith they was offered sapped their spirit, and they purchased their career and fame by revealing to Kathleen the success story of GoT and the ways whereby it might be ‘subverted’ and ‘deconstructed’. Great indeed was the Joy of Kathleen, and to D&D she promised the lordship of the next Star Wars trilogy as her vassal, and the possession of Knights of the Old Republic, when that storyline should be ‘adapted’; and indeed desire for Star Wars and hatred for coherent storytelling led D&D the easier to their treachery, most infamous in all the histories of the 2010s. But Disney sent them back to HBO, lest any should suspect the betrayal, and so that D&D should aid the subversion of expectations from within, when the hour came; and they abode in the halls of Titanic Studios with smiling face and stupidity in their hearts, while the dumbness gathered ever deeper upon GoT.

At last, in the year when GoT was seven seasons old, the Night King was ready, and he loosed upon Westeros his wights, and his White Walkers, and his wight giants; and with them came a dragon which was once Viserion, and they were become now many and terrible. The host of the Night King came over the northern hills when the hype was greatest and the audience most vigilant, and it came at night upon a time of festival, when all the fans of GoT were in front of their TVs to await the upcoming show, and sing Ramin Djawadi's songs at its uplifting; for the morrow was the great calamity that they named the Beginning of Monday. But the set lights shone at everywhere else except the area on-screen; and there was no seeing the advance of the foe until they were beneath the very walls of Winterfell, and the city was beleaguered without hope. Of the deeds of desperate valour there done, by the chieftains of the noble houses and their warriors, and not least by Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, much is told in The Great Battle of Offscreen: of the battle of Lyanna of the House Mormont with a wight giant in the very square of Winterfell, where each slew the other, and of the defence of the Godswood by the people of Bran's household, until the Night King was unceremoniously shanked by Arya the Flying Squirrel; and anticlimatic was his fall and the fall of all the Undead in his ruin.

There was a dreadful episode, The Last of the Starks it was named, the one which created new review score lows, when onto the set of the highest budget production TV show on the planet a Starbucks cup found its way; on the one hand the show was now walled by Cersei’s plot armour, and on the other a dreadful emptiness after the Long Night arc was so strangely terminated. Along that narrow way the Stargaryens’ journey was strung, when Dany’s fleet were ambushed by Euron’s forces (who certainly haven’t forgotten about her, and are just waiting for her to come back) despite having aerial reconnaissance, for Dany had ‘forgot about the Iron Fleet’; and supersonic ballistae bolts were fired [sic] at them which somehow all managed to hit Rhaegal like WW2 anti-air cannons.

Many are the rants that have been made of the sudden triggering of Dany by ringing bells in ‘The Bells’, with her abruptly going full Hitler in that unlikely place; and her character arc and 7+ seasons of development fell to ruin in the abyss. But the fans and critics coming stooped upon the show, and drove remaining apologists (n.b. there’s a difference between liking a show and defending it beyond all semblance of logic) shrieking back; and GoT’s critical reception, RT/IMDB etc scores were cast into the deeps, so that rumour of GoT’s ongoing farce came not until long after to mainstream pop culture ears. Then Drogon bore up Dany’s suddenly assassinated (by Jon no less) body out of the abyss, and Drogon buried her in front of a house with a red door; and lemon tree grew there, and yellow flowers bloomed upon it amid the barrenness of stone, until the world was changed. (hopefully)

Thus led by Jon son of [does R+L=J even matter anymore?] the remnant of the Wildlings passed over the Wall, and came down into the Vale of Thenn; ‘kinda forgetting’ that they were fleeing southward by weary and dangerous marches because the lands beyond the Wall were cold and barren, for the ‘Short Night’ had just ended, and food probably didn’t have time to grow back. There GoT’s fans ranted for a while, and were healed of their hurts and weariness; but their sorrow could not be healed. And they made many posts in memory of the earlier seasons and of narrative cohesion that had perished there, the compelling characters, and the witty dialogue; and for Daenerys the beloved many were the songs they sang. Then Tyrion made an ‘epic’ speech during his own trial for treason, concerning the choosing of new kings for the governance of Westeros; and the Holy Roman Empire-longing woke in his heart, and in all the other nobles’ also. Therefore the North seceded from the Seven Kingdoms, and somehow the Iron Islands, who were fighting for and were promised independence, didn’t care. And when the tidings came that ‘no one had a better story than Bran’ despite him being absent for literally an entire season, Bran Stark son of Eddard was named King of the ‘Six Kingdoms’ in Westeros.

But D&D thought that their triumph was fulfilled, reckoning little of the fans of GoT, and of their wrath, which had harmed them never and turned always to his mightiest aid; and in their lack of thought they laughed, regretting not the one show that he had ruined, for by it as they deemed the last shred of the people who defended good writing above shock value should vanish from popular culture and trouble them no more. If they knew of r/freefolk within the website of Reddit, they gave no sign, biding their time, and waiting upon the working of NDA oath and mainstream media lie. Yet by ff.net, AO3, and SB/V etc. there grew up a writer-folk, the gleanings of Oxford’s Inklings; and fans of Star Wars and other franchises came among them, and they took to the Internet and the writing of fanfics, dwelling ever nigh to the usage of well-established tropes, under the shadow of Tolkien’s hand.

And it is said that in that time the Tolkien Estate came to Bezos out of his deep pockets, and spoke there to Bezos of the need of the public; and he called on them to make an LoTR adaption, and rescue the general public from the overmastering suck of a slew of collapsing franchises, and win back pop culture attention to Tolkien’s Legendarium, wherein alone now bloomed the light of the Days of Bliss when The Professor still wrote in Oxford. While Bezos agreed, of the counsels of his heart what tale shall tell?

The wise have said that the hour was not yet come, and that only one show demonstrating ‘in person’ for the cause of both the average Joe and Wall Street, producing consistently good work and a story with a intriguing beginning, entertaining middle, and – this is important – a satisfying end, might move other studios and showrunners to stop producing drivel for the masses; but the subversion of expectations perhaps even the Invisible Hand of the Free Market could not loose, until it found its end, and the writers of Hollywood relinquished their ‘visions’ and ‘ideals’, upon which they had written their bin-worthy works. For the tropes which made various films/TV series successful the history of decades, centuries, or even millennia of storytelling tradition had made.

In those days Arya felt the wish to go home and see her siblings again creep upon her, and ever a longing for the deeps of the Sea grew stronger in her heart. Therefore she built a great ship, and she named it [how dafuq would I know Arya's ship's name?]; and with a goodbye to Jon, Bran and Sansa she set sail into the sunset and the West, and came no more into any tale or song. But in after days it was sung that Arya alone of mortal Women was numbered among the elder race, and was joined with the Noldor, whom she loved; and her fate is sundered from the fate of Men.


End file.
